Dr. Cooper is a well known practitioner and subject matter resource in the field of participatory planning, particularly as it relates to increasing the extent to which communities can prepare for, survive, and recover from threats to their culture, environment, or economy. Dr. Cooper has served on several boards including the boards of directors for the Texas Rural Leadership Program, the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the Bill Anderson Fund and as chair of the Advisory Board for the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.  He is currently a member of the National Academies (NASEM) Board on Gulf Education and Engagement, the Advisory Board for the Department of Homeland Security Coastal Resilience Center of Excellence at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Cooper earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master of Urban Planning from Texas A&M, before completing a PhD in City and Regional Planning at UNC - Chapel Hill. 

Dr. Van Zandt, AICP, is an expert in resilience and disaster recovery, with particular focus on how residential patterns exacerbate or mitigate exposure to natural hazards. She has designed numerous research investigations and served as PI or co-PI on nearly $4 million in external funding from the NSF, the National Institute of Standards & Technology, the Army Corps of Engineers, and others. She is an author of the 2014 book Planning for Community Resilience: A Handbook for Reducing Vulnerability to Disasters, along with more than 45 other journal articles, book chapters and technical reports. Van Zandt serves on the board of Texas Housers, one of the nation's premiere advocacy organizations for low-income housing, and an active advocate for housing recovery after Hurricanes Ike, Dolly, and now Harvey. Dr. Van Zandt earned a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Design and a Master of Urban Planning from Texas A&M, before completing a PhD in City and Regional Planning at UNC - Chapel Hill.

Jennifer Graeff, AICP, has spent over 15 years working with communities domestically and abroad on capacity building initiatives. With experience in local government, non-profit and academia, Jennifer uses collaborative and creative engagement strategies to foster thoughtful planning. At NYC Parks, she has worked on mayoral priorities focused on improving access to parks and greenspace. At the American Planning Association, Jennifer worked with federal agencies to train communities in Latin America and the Caribbean on advocacy and participatory planning practices. She has developed educational platforms in disaster planning, including partnering with Dutch experts to educate planners on water management practices.. Jennifer contributed to the Greater New Orleans Water Plan and co-authored APA’s Planning Advisory Report: Planners and Water (588), a guide to integrating water resource management into practice. She holds a Master of Urban Planning and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University.

Jaimie Hicks Masterson, AICP, has 15 years experience working alongside communities to plan for resilience. She is author of Planning for Community Resilience: A Handbook for Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters, which focuses on hazard mitigation strategies and tools for local governments, planners, emergency managers, and other stakeholders. She has developed several plan assessment tools including a part of the project team for the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard funded by the Department of Homeland Security through the Center for Coastal Resilience. Based on her work, communities have gone on to win state and national planning awards and funding to implement projects. Jaimie previously worked as a landscape architect and secondary education instructor. She received her Bachelor of Landscape Architecture and Master of Urban Planning with a Certificate in Environmental Hazards from Texas A&M University.